The Eta Aquarids Meteor Shower :This meteor shower is active from April 19th to May 28th 2009. If you would like to see a meteor shower look into the skies for the next few nights...Gazers south of the eaquator could be in for a full seven days of meteor activity, starting May 3rd the Eta Aquarids will produce up to 30 meteors per hour and become more and more active until their peak on May 6th in the hours before dawn. A viewer could possibly see up to 60 meteors per hour during the peak and steady activity of up to 30 meteors per hour until about May 10th.The meteors are visible in the evenings, best times to view would be from midnight till dawn in the top left hand side of the skies when your are looking in a southern direction...if you live on the coast..I wish I were you

It's quite amazing to see...enjoy

Last edited by bentley on Tue May 05, 2009 5:12 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Life is what we make of it..we can not control what happens in our lifebut how we handle it.

Unfortunately for most people in the northern hemisphere..yes. The meteor shower is basically dust particles from the well known Halleys comet which was seen back 1986..I'll see if I can find some info on meteor showers in the north eastern hemisphere for folk like yourself Snowzee

Life is what we make of it..we can not control what happens in our lifebut how we handle it.

The Perseid meteor shower centers around the 7th brightest star of Perseus (Eta Persei) which will rise above the horizon at around 03:00 and reach its highest point in the sky (a paltry 8 degrees above the horizon) at 05:30. Civil twilight starts at around 06:00 so if you're in a remote location with very little light pollution and an unobstructed view of the horizon you'll have a narrow window of about 30 minutes during which you might be lucky to see some meteors burn up very low over the northern horizon.

If, like me, you're stuck in Jozi you can kiss the Perseid meteor shower goodbye and rather wait for the more spectacular Leonid meteor shower in mid November.

"Weaseling out of things is important to learn. It's what separates us from the animals ... except the weasel." -Homer Simpson

Yesterday morning on RSG they had an astronomy proffie from University of the Free State. He said last night and tonight one can see the shower from 10 onwards, though around 4 in the morning'd be better, as then Orion rises in the east as well and one can look at that, as well as Mars to its left (?), and Venus a bit later. Last night the angle should have been such that they streak across the sky, tonight it should be that the come in more direct. He still said that, if you can't see the horizon, you should be able to see them more overhead a bit later.

He did say that one'd see much better in the northern hemisphere, in the order of 200 per hour, but that here it should probably be one every couple of minutes or so.

I didn't even know about it until I heard that on the radio, and that's the only reason I actually tried to go out and see. Great disappointment.

MariusHunter, angler, nature lover, conservationist.

I believe that for man to survive, we must work with nature rather than against her. We need the land; the land doesn't need us. Too many people have lost sight of this fact. - Bruce Truter

Not too sure how much of the leonids you will be viewing from the 19 - 20th November, from what understand is that on the 17th Nevember the rush of some 500 shooting stars will be visible. All I can say is enjoy your view over the river and good luck on seeing leonids under the clear skies of the Kruger

Life is what we make of it..we can not control what happens in our lifebut how we handle it.

Earth will be moving through the meteoroid stream of particles left from the passages of the comet. The stream comprises solid particles, known as meteoroids, ejected by the comet as its frozen gases evaporate under the heat of the Sun which begins to warm the comet as it comes within the orbit of Jupiter.A typical particle is no bigger than fine dust. The main source of light of a meteor is caused by the air molecules ramming the meteoroid, which fragments and atomizes the dust, and the resulting spray of microscopic debris collides with individual atoms of the atmosphere ionizing the air. The air molecules recombine and cool by giving off photons.Larger particles leave a stream of smaller particles and form a bolide or fireball, which can leave a glowing trail in the atmosphere. Leonids in particular are well known for having such bright meteors, the meteoroids left by the comet are organized in trails in orbits similar though different from that of the comet.

They are differentially disturbed by the planets, in particular Jupiter. The ensemble of the trails compose the meteoroid stream, old trails are spatially not dense and compose the meteor shower background (a few meteors per minute) which will be happening around November 17, but changing every year. Conversely, young trails are spatially very dense and the cause of meteor storms when the Earth enters one of these structures. Usual counts during a storm exceed 500 meteors per hour, to be compared to the annual background (1 to 2 meteors per hour) and the shower background (a few per hour).

Life is what we make of it..we can not control what happens in our lifebut how we handle it.

iLoveMeerkats! wrote:I have booked a "best river view" bungalow in Olifants Nov 19 and 20. Do you think this will be a good place to watch the Leonids?

It certainly would be a good place to observe the Leonids from and while, as bentley said, the 19th will be one day past the peak. Expectations are that this year's Leonids will be particularly good with as many as 500 or more meteors per hour but you could probably expect something closer to 50 (which is still almost one every minute).

Perhaps the worst bit of bad news I have for you is that the constellation of Leo will only be visible from about 02:00 in the morning as it rises over the eastern horizon. I would guess your best chances of seeing meteorites would be between 03:00 and 04:00 when Leo has risen properly above the horizon and before the twilight gets too bright. The Leonid's point of origin is somewhere in the head of Leo.

bentley wrote:Usual counts during a storm exceed 500 meteors per hour, to be compared to the annual background (1 to 2 meteors per hour) and the shower background (a few per hour).

The definition of a meteor storm (as opposed to a meteor shower) is one in which 1000 or more meteors are recorded per hour. The Leonids produce a meteor storm about once every 33 years and while they should be good this year, they're not expected to reach storm level.

"Weaseling out of things is important to learn. It's what separates us from the animals ... except the weasel." -Homer Simpson

Predictions are estimated that peak is on November 17 between 21:34 - 21:44 universal time, viewing of the shower will be visible in some certain parts of the world as early as the 15th through to the 19th of Nevember.

Life is what we make of it..we can not control what happens in our lifebut how we handle it.

Hey everybody got an e-mail containing the following info on a meteor shower!

The annual Orionid meteor shower should be at its best tonight. Don't expect too many - maybe one every minute or two if you're in a really dark place.

No equipment is needed, just: * go outside sometime between 11:30pm tonight (when Orion rises) and dawn * look roughly towards Orion (east at midnight, north at dawn) * look for meteors ("shooting stars") going over your head Easiest is to lie on the ground with your feet towards Orion, and look up.

Shooting stars are tiny grains of rock hitting the atmosphere so hard they burn up. Each year around October 20th, the Earth ploughs through a cloud of material left by Halley's Comet, hitting debris at about 230,000 km/hr.

I already saw 2 last night will be watching again tonight! Who's joing me?

Just wanted to give every one a heads up to keep them eyes peeled from the 15th - 19th November..The leonids shower will be happening, peak will be on the 17th and estimated viewing times are between 3am & 4am South African time , and between 21:45 & 22:45 universal time.

Will keep you updated as the days pass by..

Life is what we make of it..we can not control what happens in our lifebut how we handle it.

Last night at 11 pm , awoke to a loud explosion, at first thought it was Venetia mine and explosive activity there, kind of akin to artillery shelling going over head..the sky and veld lit up, and there was this rumbling tremor..It seemed to be a meteor, and passing overhead Mapungubwe Park going west - Im guess in landing in E Botswana ?, NW Limpopo ?

Around the same time in southern Gauteng I saw a trail that I thought was a flare due to it having a low trajectory .It seemed to be travelling more or less north to south .

KNP is sacred.I am opposed to the modernisation of Kruger and from the depths of my soul long for the Kruger of yesteryear! 1000+km on foot in KNP incl 56 wild trails.200+ nights in the wildernessndloti-indigenous name for serval.